GP3: Aitken teams up with Arden for rookie season

British driver Jack Aitken is preparing to step into GP3 with Arden International after impressing during a winter testing programme

British driver Jack Aitken is preparing to step up into GP3 with Arden International after impressing during a winter testing programme.

The 20-year-old Anglo-Korean clinched the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup title with five wins and six additional rostrum results and caught the eye of Arden who handed him a winter testing schedule with its Formula V8 3.5 squad at Jerez and Aragon before switching over to its GP3 outfit in Abu Dhabi last December.

Aitken fully proved his worth by topping the timesheet with Arden on the afternoon of the second day in Abu Dhabi and says he can't wait to get going with the team in 2016.

"After working together once back in 2013, and having become close to all the guys here during the early years of my career, I'm extremely excited to be racing with Arden this year in GP3," Aitken said. "Having come off the back of a championship-winning year in a very competitive series, I'm keen to not rest on our laurels and take the fight to the next level in GP3."

Arden general manager Julian Rouse says he's delighted to see how the British driver has progressed over the past three years since first working with him in 2013 in a FR3.5 young driver test and is confident he can enjoy instant success in 2016.

"Jack was already impressive then and now he has finished his studies and had the chance to fully focus on the racing in 2015, the performance from him has been outstanding in what was a very competitive year in FR2.0," Rouse said. "We had a very good test in Abu Dhabi as well at the end of the year, it showed Jack is clearly ready to challenge for race wins in his rookie season in GP3 so we are really looking forward to continuing our success with him."